Former BBCN Chief Joins Commonwealth Board

Veteran banker Alvin Kang has joined the board of Korean-American lender Commonwealth Business Bank, the bank announced Friday.

Kang stepped down earlier this year as chief executive of Koreatown’s BBCN Bancorp, the nation’s largest Korean-American bank. Before leading BBCN, he was chief executive at Nara Bancorp, which merged with fellow Center Financial to become BBCN.

Kang said he was interested in returning to the banking world and jumped at the chance to fill a vacancy on Commonwealth’s board as he has long known Joanne Kim, Commonwealth’s chief executive and former head of rival lender Wilshire State Bank.